Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China

Biography: Professor Huihe Qiu is currently Associate Head and Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Associate Director of the Building Energy Research Center at The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. Professor Qiu received his Ph.D. degree from Institute of Fluid Mechanics, LSTM, at the University of Erlangen, Germany in 1994. Professor Qiu’s research areas are in micro/nanosensors, smart buildings, fluid dynamics and multiphase transport. He is Editor-in-Chief of Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (Elsevier), Editor of Acta Mechanica Sinica (Springer), Editor of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group), Associate Editor of Aerospace Science and Technology (Elsevier). He is the recipient of the Best Paper Award of Institute of Physics (IOP) in 1994; the Highlight of the year from Measurement Science and Technology (IOP) in 2005, the Highlights of the year from Journal Micromechanics and Microengineering, Institute of Physics (2009 and 2011); Mosaic (2007) Measurement Science & Technology, Institute of Physics (IOP); ASME Best Poster Award (2010); Philips Outstanding Paper Award in ICEPT-HDP2012; and the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award: The State Scientific and Technological Progress Award (SSTPA) (1989); and The Scientific and Technological Achievement Award from the State Education Commission (1988).

Topic: Intelligent Control System for Thermal Comfort and Energy Saving in Smart Buildings

Abstract: With the development of Internet of Things (IoT), novel technologies for smart buildings receive more and more attention. Utilizing IoT, modeling and analyzing personalized thermal comfort becomes possible. Therefore, a personalized comfort model maybe established for intelligent control system in smart buildings. To do that, real-time measurements of human comfort is crucial. In this talk, the author will present a personalized comfort sensing system and implement the system with a wireless communication system that can be facilitated with IoT. The proposed personalized comfort sensing system would record personal comfort region based on modified Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) formula and automatically provide a personalized comfort environment for user. The system is composed of sensor nodes and a thermal comfort monitoring and control center. Each sensor node comprises a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a novel metabolic sensor and wireless communication module. A novel model for measuring human metabolic rate effectively and economically has been developed utilizing the heart rate, skin impedance and heat loss sensors. The thermal comfort monitoring and control system can be integrated into a smart watch like device. This system is of great significance in automation comfort environment control for smart building, to implement a real smart building.